A new flier advertising the renovated rental property on Wyandotte Avenue in the University
District startled neighbors, to say the least.

“This gorgeous luxury home has 7 spacious bedrooms with an extra GIGANTIC bedroom that runs the
length of the entire third floor!” the flier posted on the house reads.

Online, another ad for the house reads: “You can easily fit SEVERAL roommates in the third-floor
room if you ever need to split your rent.”

Neighbor Jeremy Graham was incensed. Like others in the area, he said he wants to know how many
people will live in the house when it is leased next year, where will they park and how much noise
will they make.

Then there is “the safety of the residents themselves,” said Graham, of the SoHud Block Watch,
who lives on E. Maynard Avenue behind the Wyandotte house.

But it turns out the ads are wrong. According to Jin Choi, a property investor in the area whose
daughter is marketing the Wyandotte Avenue house. She said her daughter miscalculated the number of
bedrooms.

“The third floor is not going to be finished,” said Choi, who knows the house’s owner, Songzhe
Xu.

City Building and Zoning Services officials approved an expansion for five bedrooms and no
occupancy in the basement and attic.

Still, the outcry illustrates the concern some neighborhood residents have about this house and
others for rent in the area.

Earlier this year, the University Area Commission asked Columbus officials for a moratorium on
building permits to enlarge residential properties in the University District by more than 10
percent.

“It doesn’t fit the character of the neighborhood,” Terra Goodnight, a University Area
commissioner, said about the Wyandotte house. Commissioner Tom Wildman calls it “people
packing."

Neighbors also wonder what will happen to such houses in the fall of 2015 when Ohio State
University plans to require sophomores to live on campus. Will there be enough renters to fill
these large houses? And if not, what will become of them?

Xu started expanding the Wyandotte Avenue house in the summer, adding two bedrooms to bring the
number to five, and two more baths, to bring the total to 31/2. Most of the houses in the
neighborhood are smaller one- and two-family houses.

A city building permit said Xu is spending $120,000 to expand and improve the house. The flier
said the house will be ready by August.

Xu bought the house last year for $44,200, according to Franklin County auditor’s records.

Chris Presutti, the city’s chief zoning official, said city inspectors will have the final
say.

“The project is far from being complete and receiving an occupancy permit,” Presutti said in an
email.